


Stand By Me

by DigitalSiamese



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 02:04:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17572226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalSiamese/pseuds/DigitalSiamese
Summary: Despite all their troubles, Boone never leaves.(Nameless Courier)





	Stand By Me

He was always quick to fall in step beside her, no matter how begrudgingly he seemed to follow.

The silence was awkward at first. Boone wasn't one to make small talk, and the Courier wasn't sure what she could say that wouldn't step on a tender spot; so they shot geckos and tracked an almost-murderer across the Mojave with very few words exchanged. But when they reached New Vegas there weren't quite enough caps between them to cross into the Strip, so the Courier turned to her companion and said, “I hear good Legion armor can bring in a pretty penny.”

“I'm always in the mood for some hunting,” Boone replied; and as they struck out together, they found conversation came a little easier - although they mostly talked about guns and weak points and the best place to shoot Legionaries.

Soon they returned to New Vegas, their caps numbering a little more. At the Tops, the Courier, at last, caught up to Benny. “Let's talk this out,” she demanded, even though she knew it was foolish.

“Of course, babydoll,” Benny smoothly replied, but all that was waiting for her in the presidential suite was an ambush. The Courier had known, deep down. Boone had known. But he still helped her fight back the assassins, and when she cried he wordlessly handed her a beer because he wasn't good with words. She never told him, but the fact that he had never left said more to her than any words could.

There was hardly enough time to wonder what to do next, because suddenly it seemed that _everyone_ knew who the Courier was, knew that she had risen from a shallow grave to exact revenge on the man who had tried to kill her. The NCR wanted to meet with her. Mr. House invited her into the Lucky 38. Even the _Legion_ extended a pardon and an invitation. Fate had served her the strongest players on a silver platter, as long as she was willing to dance to their drums.

Things changed in an instant. One moment, she was no one; in the next she was liberating towns and saving soldiers, defusing bombs and boosting morale, shaking hands with lieutenants and majors who all complimented her on her skills and looked at her with a sense of pride, all while her name spread like wildfire in a grassland. Nothing was the same from one day to the next - except that Boone was always there, right by her side.

Then there came a moment where it was the Courier who was the one deciding to stay. Bitter Springs. Boone's guilt was raw, red. She wished she could ease his conscience but she wasn't good with words; so she said only what she meant: “I won't leave you.”

For the time being, it seemed to be enough.

They dove back into the chaos, dismantling Fiend camps, clearing riffraff out of Freeside. If Boone found himself admiring the way the Courier always put others first, he didn't mention it. He just followed her as best he could, like he had promised.

War swept the unlikely friends along on a dangerous wave, eventually crashing back down where it had all started: the Hoover Dam. The dawn was red that morning, a promise of blood to be spilt. “We might not make it out of this,” the Courier said.

“I know,” Boone answered, but he didn't leave.

Bullets. Blood. Cries of pain and anguish. Wide eyes that the Courier knew would haunt her later, that she knew she had to forget for now. They went in together: the mailman with a case of Lazarus, and the lonely sniper who wasn't so lonely anymore. Miraculously, they made it back out.

At the end, after wounds had been wrapped, they sat side-by-side outside the noise and glow of celebration. “I miss Novac,” Boone stated.

“You know what?” the Courier replied. “I do too.” There was a pause, then she stood. “Let's go home, shall we?”

“Yeah,” Boone agreed. Home. It sounded nice. It sounded nice to her her say that, too. He picked up his gun and fell in step beside her, like he always did. “Let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> A love letter to one Craig Boone, who never said much when I dragged him all across the Mojave, but really did mean it when he said "I've got your back".


End file.
